A Taste of Culinary Power on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Washington, D.C.”

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Taste the culinary power on the seventh season of the No. 1 food show on cable, Bravo’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series “Top Chef: Washington D.C.,” premiering Wednesday, June 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. The 17 new chef’testants come face to face in the nation’s capitol for the ultimate power play that will determine just who has the chops to become Top Chef.

This season captures the varied tastes of Washington D.C. and features appearances by some of the town’s top names including Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, White House chef Sam Kass, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, CIA Director Leon Panetta and NBC White House Correspondent Savannah Guthrie. The challenges featured will be some of the most creative and inventive yet: the chefs take over the concession stands at the Nationals stadium, go inside the CIA’s closely guarded headquarters and literally receive out of this world direction on one challenge from a NASA astronaut orbiting Earth .

Once again returning to the kitchen, cookbook author, actress and host Padma Lakshmi presides over the judge’s table alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, recent James Beard Award-winner and chef/owner Craft Restaurants, and judge Gail Simmons of Food & Wine magazine. Joining the series as a regular guest judge is Eric Ripert, award-winning chef and owner of the acclaimed Le Bernardin restaurant in New York City, the 15th ranked best restaurant in the world.

The 17 “Top Chef: Washington D.C.” chef’testants will be whittled down week by week as they compete to outshine their competition. The winning chef will receive $125,000 furnished by Dial Nutriskin, a feature in Food & Wine magazine, a showcase at the Annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and will earn the title of “Top Chef.” The Washington Hilton served as the production location for “Top Chef: Washington D.C.”

To meet the cast of season seven, see photo galleries and video, visit http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef. Photography and bios are available at www.nbcumv.com. Following are the 17 new “Top Chef: Washington D.C.” chef’testants: